The Chinese must be rubbing their hands in joy thinking about millions of Americans high on weed.
Legal or illegal, there's always going to be roughly the same ratio of people who love weed vs absolutely hating the hell out of it. Considering how easy it is to get weed even when illegal, the only significant changes I foresee with complete national legalization is the quality of the marijuana, but that's more or less it.
Personal anecdote: the stigma of getting a medical marijuana card sort of dissipated within the last couple years, and I thought, oh what the hell, it's been ten years, let's check this out. A few observations:
1.Getting a medical marijuana card in California is incredibly difficult, so when you're in the "office" with the doctor, be sure to memorize the following words: "I sometimes have trouble sleeping." Got that? Good, you've got your marijuana card.
2.Dispensaries are everywhere.
3.Most of said dispensaries are empty. I went into around half a dozen, and only once was another customer in the store.
4.I've seen dispensaries in my neighborhood come and go. It appears to be like any business.
5.Legal or not, and removing the skeevy nature of acquiring marijuana only to find out it's oregano, I came to this final conclusion: I absolutely
hate marijuana. It is estimated that Eskimos have fourteen words for snow. Based on all the varieties and combinations of sativa and indica, I can personally testify that there are at least twenty words for "paranoia."
It's not for everyone, and legalization isn't going to change that.